Air conditioner for vehicle

Abstract

In an air conditioner for a vehicle including a front pillar which is disposed diagonally in front of a passenger and extends slant in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, there are provided an air conditioning duct disposed along the front pillar, a front-pillar conditioned-air blowoff port which blows off conditioned air toward the passenger from the air conditioning duct, and a louver device to be disposed at the front pillar and deflect the conditioned air within an angle which is smaller than a slant angle of the front pillar, whereby the conditioned air from the louver device can be blown off toward a neck portion and a head portion of the passenger. Thus, efficient air conditioning to a neck portion and its surroundings, which are sensitive to the passenger's air conditioning feeling, can be provided.

1. An air conditioner for a vehicle including a pair of front pillars which are disposed diagonally in front of a passenger seated in a front seat and extends slant in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, upper ends of the front pillars being interconnected by a front header extending in a vehicle width direction, a windshield of the vehicle being supported at the front pillars and the front header, the air conditioner comprising:
 an air conditioning duct to be disposed along the front pillars; 
 a front-pillar conditioned-air blowoff port which blow off conditioned air toward the passenger seated in the front seat from said air conditioning duct; and 
 a louver device to be disposed at said front pillars and deflect the conditioned air within an angle which is smaller than a slant angle of said front pillars, 
 wherein said louver device is located at a relatively upper portion of the front pillar from the middle and configured so as to be adjustable within a specified angle in a vertical direction of the vehicle, and a conditioned-air blow-off line of the conditioned air blown off from said louver device is configured such that an upper limit thereof is approximately parallel to a belt line of the vehicle and a lower limit thereof has said angle with respect to the upper limit, whereby the conditioned air from said louver device can be blown off toward a neck portion and a head portion of the passenger, and 
 wherein said air conditioning duct has a rib portion as an impact absorbing portion to absorb an impact acting from an inside of a passenger compartment, and said rib portion is configured so as to absorb the impact by being deformed by the impact which is greater than a specified value. 
 
   
   
     2. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein said louver device is configured so as to be adjustable within a specified angle in a width direction of the vehicle, whereby the conditioned air from said louver device can be blown off toward the neck portion and the bead portion of the passenger. 
   
   
     3. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein a sitting position of the passenger is configured so as to be adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and said louver device is configured so as to be adjustable such that the conditioned air from said louver device can be blown off toward the neck portion and the head portion of the passenger regardless of the sitting position of the passenger. 
   
   
     4. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein said louver device is configured so as to blow off concentrated conditioned air toward the neck portion and the head portion of the passenger. 
   
   
     5. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein at least a roof portion of the vehicle, which is located from above the passenger to the front pillar, is configured so as to open. 
   
   
     6. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 1 , further comprising a vent blowoff port to blow off the conditioned air toward the passenger from an instrument panel disposed at a vehicle front, and a blowoff-air adjusting device operative to adjust a blowoff amount of the conditioned air from said vent blowoff port and said front-pillar conditioned-air blowoff port. 
   
   
     7. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 6 , wherein at least a roof portion of the vehicle, which is located from above the passenger to the front pillar, is configured so as to open, and said blowoff-air adjusting device is configured so as to increase the amount of the conditioned air from said front-pillar conditioned-air blowoff port more than that from said vent blowoff port when said roof portion opens, compared with when said roof portion is closed. 
   
   
     8. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 7 , wherein said blowoff-air adjusting device is driven by a drive device. 
   
   
     9. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 6 , wherein said instrument panel is equipped with an air conditioning unit, said air conditioning unit and said vent blowoff port are connected by a vent duct, and there is provided a front-pillar air-conditioning duct which diverges from said vent duct and is disposed along the front pillar to be connected to said front-pillar conditioned-air blowoff port. 
   
   
     10. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 6 , wherein said instrument panel is equipped with an air conditioning unit, said air conditioning unit and said vent blowoff port are connected by a vent duct, and there is provided a front-pillar air-conditioning duct which extends along the front pillar in parallel to said vent duct to be connected to said front-pillar conditioned-air blowoff port. 
   
   
     11. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein at least a roof portion of the vehicle, which is located from above the passenger to the front pillar, is configured so as to open, and there is provided a blowoff-air adjusting device operative to adjust a blowoff amount of the conditioned air from said front-pillar conditioned-air blowoff port according to an opening of said roof portion. 
   
   
     12. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein said air conditioning duct includes a cylinder portion for letting the conditioned air flow therein, an upper part of said cylinder portion has an opening portion that faces a front pillar trim that is provided at an inside face of the front pillar, said upper part of cylinder portion constitutes a part of said air conditioning duct with a part of the front pillar trim, and said rib portion is provided in said part of air conditioning duct formed between said upper part of cylinder portion and said part of front pillar trim so as to extend along a flow direction of the conditioned air. 
   
   
     13. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 12 , wherein said rib portion comprises plural ribs. 
   
   
     14. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein said louver device is configured so as to be detached from said air conditioning duct by the impact greater than the specified value. 
   
   
     15. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein said air conditioning duct includes a cylinder portion for letting the conditioned air flow therein, and said rib portion is provided at an outside of a part of said cylinder portion so as to be located between the cylinder portion and a front pillar trim that is provided at an inside face of the front pillar. 
   
   
     16. The air conditioner for a vehicle of  claim 15 , wherein said rib portion comprises plural ribs.